Archive for June, 2015

An academic conference held at the University of Cambridge said that pedophilia interest is “natural and normal for males”, and that “at least a sizable minority of normal males would like to have sex with children, and normal males are aroused by children.”

These sentiments were discussed at a conference that took place last year to discuss the classification of sexuality in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the standard international psychiatric manual used by the legal system.

The conference, which was titled “Classifying Sex: Debating DSM-5″, had featured a number of speakers who spoke in favor of sex with children, which, in essence, is supporting pedophilia.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA), which produces it, had been locked in battle over whether hebephilia should be included as a disorder. Hebephilia is the sexual preference for children in early puberty, typically 11 to 14 year old’s.

The proposal was being discussed because children are going through puberty at a younger age and the current definition of pedophilia is attraction to pre-pubescent children.

One of the attendees, and enthusiastic participant, was Tom O’Carroll, a multiple child sex offender and long time campaigner for the legalization of sex with children and former head of the Paedophile Information Exchange. “Wonderful!” he wrote on his blog afterwards. “It was a rare few days when I could feel relatively popular!”

After a fierce battle in the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which produces it, a proposal to include hebephilia as a disorder in the new edition of the manual has been defeated. The proposal arose because puberty in children has started ever earlier in recent decades and as a result, it was argued, the current definition of paedophilia – pre-pubertal sexual attraction – missed out too many young people.

Whole Foods Found Guilty Of Overcharging Customers

Whole Foods Market have been fined $800,000 for overcharging their customers.

The New York City’s Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) have said that its investigation of Whole Foods Market Stores found “systemic overcharging” of its customers and the “worst case of mislabeling they have seen in their careers”.

“The overcharges ranged from [80 cents] for a package of pecan panko to $14.84 for a package of coconut shrimp,” the DCA said in a statement.

One of the agencies Commissioners, Julie Menin, said “Our inspectors tell me this is the worst case of mislabeling they have seen in their careers”.

In its investigation, the DCA said it tested 80 different package types and found they all had mislabeled weights, adding that 89 percent of the tested packages were not in line with the federal standard for the maximum amount “that an individual package can deviate from the actual weight.”

“The overcharges were especially prevalent in packages that had been labeled with exactly the same weight when it would be practically impossible for all of the packages to weigh the same amount. These products included nuts and other snack products (flavored almonds, pecan panko and corn nuts), berries, vegetables, and seafood,” it added.

Lawmakers in California have approved a vaccine bill that will force parents to vaccinate their children.

The controversial SB277 bill is intended to boost vaccination rates following the measles outbreak at Disneyland earlier in the year. It has prompted emotional and lively debate, with huge protests from parents and vaccination opponents who say the new proposed law is an imposition on freedom and detrimental to health.

The Assembly Health Committee approved the legislation 12-6 with one lawmaker abstaining, sending it to the full Assembly for its final legislative hurdle.

The bill would eliminate the personal belief exemption that allows parents to send their unvaccinated children to school. Students who cannot be immunized because of medical problems can still attend, while others must be home-schooled.

If the bill becomes law, California would join Mississippi and West Virginia as the only states with such strict requirements.

“SB277 is about freedom,” said Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, one of the bill’s authors. “Freedom from deadly, crippling contagions that are now preventable through the science of vaccination.”

Public shaming would be an effective way to regulate the “irresponsible behavior” of unwed mothers, misbehaving teenagers and welfare recipients, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) argued in his 1995 book Profiles in Character.

In a chapter called “The Restoration of Shame,” the likely 2016 presidential candidate made the case that restoring the art of public humiliation could help prevent pregnancies “out of wedlock.”

One of the reasons more young women are giving birth out of wedlock and more young men are walking away from their paternal obligations is that there is no longer a stigma attached to this behavior, no reason to feel shame. Many of these young women and young men look around and see their friends engaged in the same irresponsible conduct. Their parents and neighbors have become ineffective at attaching some sense of ridicule to this behavior. There was a time when neighbors and communities would frown on out of wedlock births and when public condemnation was enough of a stimulus for one to be careful.

Bush points to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter, in which the main character is forced to wear a large red “A” for “adulterer” on her clothes to punish her for having an extramarital affair that produced a child, as an early model for his worldview. “Infamous shotgun weddings and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter are reminders that public condemnation of irresponsible sexual behavior has strong historical roots,” Bush wrote.

Sen. Patty Murray introduced a measure on Tuesday that calls for birth control pills to be sold without a prescription. The bill, which echoes recommendations from the American Medical Association, is likely to increase political wrangling over the Obama administration’s requirement that health insurers cover the costs of FDA-approved contraceptives.

Murray, D-Wash., and supporters including Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America, say the move is intended as a defense against congressional efforts to shut down the portion of the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) that requires health insurance companies to cover one of 18 different forms of birth control without co-payments.

Without insurance coverage, Murray says, the pill can cost up to $600 a year, making it out of reach for many women. The bill would make sure that insurance still covers the cost of birth control pills if the FDA approves that particular method for sale over the counter. Typically, insurance companies do not cover the cost of OTC drugs.

“Anyone will tell you, if something is too expensive, it doesn’t matter how easy it is to get,” Murray said in a call with reporters on Tuesday. “It might as well be on the moon. Affordability and access go hand in hand.”

Dr. Nancy Stanwood, an obstetrics professor at the Yale School of Medicine, said that medical groups have long called for over-the-counter access to the pill because the research shows that women are safely able to take the pill without the need for a doctor visit or a pelvic exam. “I think that this is very common-sense measure that Senator Murray is proposing, and it’s very thoughtful in thinking ahead so that women continue to have access to birth control,” she said.

The planes, at least 50 and perhaps more than 100, are mostly registered with fake companies such as FVX Research, KQM Aviation, NBR Aviation and PXW Services. The FBI told the AP that the front companies are used to protect the safety of the pilots.

The planes managed in just one month to conduct more than a hundred flights in 11 states. The missions targeted both large cities and unincorporated areas, the AP reported. The planes carry high-tech cameras and sometimes even sophisticated equipment that can track cell phones, raising questions of whether this surveillance has violated people’s privacy.

“It’s important that federal law enforcement personnel have the tools they need to find and catch criminals,” Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told the AP. “But whenever an operation may also monitor the activities of Americans who are not the intended target, we must make darn sure that safeguards are in place to protect the civil liberties of innocent Americans.”

The Washington Post reported that the FBI’s air force was in the skies over Baltimore early last month during the recent protests of the death of Freddie Gray in the hands of that city’s police department. Two planes—one a small propeller plane and the other a business jet—flew in specific patterns over the city at night, using infrared technology to keep an eye on the protests.